ATS Friendly Resume
How To Make ATS Friendly Resume?
Most companies today use resume scanning tools or ATS (Applicant Tracking System). In this blog, you will know how to make ATS Friendly Resume, i.e., a resume that scores highly on different ATS tools..
What is ATS Friendly Resume?
ATS or Applicant Tracking System Friendly Resume is an Artificial Intelligence tool that scans an applicant’s resume against the job description and job requirements, and gives a score stating how much the candidate matches the role.
For recruiting managers and HRs, ATS has become an important factor in making the decision, whether to shortlist the candidate or not.
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How To Make An ATS Friendly Resume?
ATS is used by recruiters everywhere to scan resumes, and shortlist the candidates that suit the profile best. An ATS friendly resume is very important, as often your resume might get rejected despite having all the qualities required, just because you don’t have an ATS friendly resume.
How does ATS work?
ATS or applicant tracking system scans a given resume against the job description, and shows whether the candidate is a match or not.
ATS when tracking a resume identifies keywords, which includes skills, experience, etc.
Resumes that have a certain amount of keywords, and gets a match are then sent on to the recruiter / HR, while resumes that do not get the required match is rejected.
How does recruiters use ATS to find the right candidate?
Usually recruiters follow these steps and use ATS to shortlist the right candidates.
- Recruiters enter the job description, containing all the important keywords in the ATS software.
- There are many different types of ATS software available like Atomic Hire, Job Diva, Mantal, etc.
- The ATS then scans the various resumes collected against the provided job description.
- It looks for keywords or phrases in the resume that matches that in the job description.
- This can include (but not limited to), skills, work experience, education, certification, and more.
- Once the resume is scanned, ATS forms a report for each resume and gives it a score based on how much it matches the JD.
- Depending on this, recruiters then shortlist the candidates accordingly.
Usually a match rate of 85% or higher is considered by recruiters to shortlist candidates.
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How To Create an ATS Friendly Resume? - Complete Guide
You need to have an ATS Compatible resume, if you want to get hired especially in any big or global MNC. Most MNCs get thousands of applicants for a job opening, and no one manually sits through to check whether the applicants match the criteria. They use ATS to scan the resumes, hence it is very important that your resume is readable by a machine.
Step by Step Guide to Create an ATS Compatible Resume
Below we have given step by step guide to create a resume that is compatible with all the Applicant Tracking Systems.
1. Use an ATS Friendly Resume Template
The first step in creating resume is finding the perfect template. It is very important to pick a template that is readable to the ATS, as well as to the recruiters who will manually go through it.
This includes using a template that is easy to read, with a clean minimalistic design. Fancy designs and bold colors with intrinsic designs often do not pass the ATS scan.
2. Correctly Label Resume Sections
A resume is divided into multiple sections. To bypass ATS, you need to label these sections accordingly. Missing sections in the resume can lead to getting a low score, as the ATS will deduce that important sections are not included in the resume.
3. Include Keywords
Use keywords that are relevant to the job description and job role you are applying for. These keywords can be added in:-
- Relevant work experience section
- Educational qualifications
- Skills
- Technical Skills
- Soft Skills
- Technologies / Tools known
- Certifications
- etc
4. Keyword Optimisation
You might think that adding as many keywords as possible in your resume is the way to go. However, you should not over stuff keywords in resume. Make sure to only include resume that are relevant to the job role. Also, do not include keywords like skills or qualifications that you do not possess, just to fit the keyword quota.
5. Save you resume in correct format
Lastly, once you have created your resume make sure you export it in the correct format that is universally accepted.
PDFs are the best format to share resumes in, as they are easily accessed and don’t require any specific application to load. Some recruiters might ask you to share the resume in a document file, in that case you can use Microsoft Word.
To Know More About Resume Building Check Out
Important Tips For An ATS Friendly Resume
Do's
- Keep the color combination of resume simple. Go for a white background with black text. If you want to use additional colors, you can go for brown or dark blue.
- Select fonts that are ATS friendly. These include simple and minimalistic fonts which are easy to read.
- Some of the popular fonts are Times New Roman, Ariel, Calibri, Georgia, etc.
- Include dates in you resume like when you started a new job, when you graduated.
- Make sure to add the month and year, when adding dates.
- Keep a consistent font style throughout the resume.
- Adding bullet points in the resume to increase the readability.
Don'ts
- Using a complicated resume format, with graphs and images.
- Using of bright colored fonts like red, green, yellow. Not only are they often skipped by the ATS, they are also extremely unprofessional.
- Using complicated and cursive fonts.
- Using non-white backgrounds in the resume.
- Using big paragraphs without any proper formatting.
- Adding text in the header or footer of the resume.
- Using irrelevant keywords.
- Using same keyword over and over
- Using charts and tables
Frequently Asked Question on ATS Friendly Resume
Study the job description, and see which of the skills and qualifications they are looking for. For example if they are hiring for a JAVA Developer, then your resume should have keywords like JAVA, JAVA Projects, JAVA Frameworks, etc.
There is no fixed length for a resume. However, it is advised to keep the resume of one page long.
The best way to know is to create a resume following the steps mentioned above. There are certain ATS scanners available online however the results are not always accurate and can vary depending on the platform used.
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